Summer courses move very quickly. A normal Spring or Fall semester lasts 15 weeks, while Summer semesters are compressed into 6 weeks. Therefore on average the course moves at 2.5x speed. This is achieved by holding lectures 4 times a week, each of which are considerably longer in duration. What does this mean for course load? According to the standard University guidelines for a normal Spring or Fall semester,
Good habits are essential to keep up. Personally, I recommend establishing fixed times of day and locations to study. If you stick to a consistent schedule week to week you will find it much easier to get more studying done.
Besides study habits, what else should you be doing?
Whatever you do, spread your efforts evenly throughout the week. All hope is lost trying to do everything at the end of the week even if it seems like there will be enough time to do so. The reason is that if you aren't studying day to day then all those opportunities during the week to ask questions in class, see me in office hours, and talk to your friends are lost.
The average student should spend at least 10 hours per week outside of class to master calculus well. This includes time for reading text, solving assigned homework problems (the minimum work required), working on computer assignments and discussing the harder problems with your study group. Many students will need more than 10 hours per week of practice.If we were to multiply this by 2.5 you can see that spending 25 hours per week (3.5 hours per day) might be required!
Good habits are essential to keep up. Personally, I recommend establishing fixed times of day and locations to study. If you stick to a consistent schedule week to week you will find it much easier to get more studying done.
Besides study habits, what else should you be doing?
- Pay attention during class and ask questions as soon as they come up.
- Come to office hours to clarify concepts and to get help for problem solving.
- Talk to your friends, engage in study groups.
- Search the Internet! Wikipedia is one example, but there are many places you can find through Google that have helpful explanations on almost any math topic. If you aren't used to doing this you are missing out.
- Read Calculus Help at Penn to make yourself aware of study resources provided by the University.
Whatever you do, spread your efforts evenly throughout the week. All hope is lost trying to do everything at the end of the week even if it seems like there will be enough time to do so. The reason is that if you aren't studying day to day then all those opportunities during the week to ask questions in class, see me in office hours, and talk to your friends are lost.